There are an endless subset of skills that you should obtain as a prepper. This could include anything from learning how to maintain crops to doing laundry without electricity. Oddly enough for me, I find them just as exciting as my main prepping interests because I know it all comes back to being prepared. I'm looking forward to the day when I learn how to make cheese from goats milk (health/protein and valuable bartering item) because in one way or another it all comes back to survival. Ok, well maybe the laundry part isn't so exciting.

But honestly, I'm actually quite excited to learn things that I would have never dreamed when I was young. One such thing is wild foraging.

Wild foraging is the art of being able to obtain nutrient rich foods from the wild or anything edible for that matter. It's something I've been practicing for the past year. With spring in the air there are many plants everywhere and foraging 'season' is almost in full-effect. I also have a great teacher and friend (Karen Stephenson of http://www.ediblewildfood.com ) - that's helping me every step of the way.

So, what the heck is Chaga?

Chaga, to put it simply, is unquestionably natures most nutrient rich food. It's found on birch trees (usually on the west side). It's uses the tree as a parasite would use a host except it retains and provides the tree with nutrients. It has an irregular shape, very hard with a char-coal like appearance. It has over 215 phyto-nutrients. The density and variety of nutrients found within Chaga can't be compared to anything else.

People will extract the the nutrients from Chaga using alcohol. However, it's more commonly made into a tea. It tastes great - reminiscent of vanilla. I'll go through the process another time. But for now, this is what cultures throughout history have said about this super-food:

"Gift from God", "Mushroom of Immortality" - Siberian culture
"The Diamond of the Forest" - Japanese culture
"King of Plants" - Chinese culture (& China has a lot of different edible plants)

This afternoon I was on a wild foraging walk with Karen and while finding wild strawberries and leeks (tasted excellent! Thanks to Colleen!) were fun I was on the hunt for Chaga. And then there it was:

Yes, it's that 'black thing' attached to the side of the birch tree.

I'll never look at a birch tree the same again. While most preppers may not appreciate the value of nutrient-rich foods all I can say is that they benefit your health in countless ways. It makes sense, from a survival standpoint, to be in decent physical condition...to take care of your body...to be on top of your game in the event of an event. Eating highly nutrient foods during a survival situation can only increase your chances of survival - knowing how and where to find them in the wild and prepare them is even better.

That isn't to say that I don't enjoy a cheese burger once in a while since SHTF hasn't happened yet. It was just great to find a super food in the wild today.